I was walking through Millennium Park in February, 2007 when I took the above photo of Chicago artist Chris Heck working on a composition of Anish Kapoor's Cloudgate with the Michigan Avenue streetwall in the background. Art begetting art, as it were.

Anyway, I posted the image on my flickr page and moved on. Then not long ago, three years later, I got a flickr comment from none other than Heck himself.

"I remember you taking my picture and never really thought anymore about it," he said. "It looks great. Ill have to post a pic of the finished painting for you to see." And he did:

I can still remember the tingling sensation I would get in the back of my throat, after devouring the heavily spice-rubbed jerk chicken in Boston Beach and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The chickens there are rubbed down as if they were staying at the Beverly Hills Peninsula Hotel, except on the island, it's all about the allspice. Created by slaves who were evading British troops in the hills of Jamaica, the "Maroons" would pick native spice berries, use the local peppers, and rub a paste onto their chickens to help preserve them, as they hid in the majestic hills. The "jerk" seasoning is usually a paste or very wet rub, consisting of that native spice - the only one indigenous to the New World - that comes from local pimento trees.

There was a time when the sudden exodus of three high-profile personalities would have been cause for alarm, if not embarrassment, in the executive suites of a television station. But not anymore. At least not at WBBM-Channel 2.

In the span of just five days last month, the CBS-owned station lost three familiar faces -- political editor Mike Flannery, weatherman and technology reporter Ed Curran and news anchor Anne State. Since then, beyond issuing perfunctory statements wishing them well, Channel 2 management has declined to make any comment or offer any explanation about the rash of departures. So we're left to figure it out for ourselves.

Although the circumstances in each case were different, the underlying issue in all three was, in one way or another, money.

I've had a serious thing for Belgian beers the past couple of years. Part of it is due to exposure - The Map Room and the Hopleaf have been fertile training grounds with informed servers and bartenders, helping to guide me. Another part of the reason is flavor: after you've sipped some of these unique brews - tart cherry lambics, intense Trappists - you're never going to be satisfied with a mass market beer again. But the final part of the equation is availability. Thanks to aggressive, passionate importers, we now have more Belgian beer choices than ever. Just stroll the aisle at Binny's in the South Loop to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Wendy Littlefield and her husband started Vanberg & DeWulf more than 25 years ago, and have continued to bring intriguing labels into the U.S. ever since. They recently moved their headquarters from Cooperstown, NY to Chicago.

At a time when the city's troubled broadcast industry could use a shot in the arm, a galaxy of Chicago television's brightest stars will be honored June 11 at a benefit for the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Bruce Dumont

In what's billed as "the first-ever reunion of three generations of Chicago television icons," a who's who of local luminaries will fill the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Hilton, 720 S. Michigan. In announcing the names of those already confirmed to attend "A Salute to Chicago Television," Bruce DuMont, founder and president of the museum, said:

Joe Ahern, the former Chicago television executive who landed a job in the restaurant business, has scored a media coup for his new employer: As president of Alex Dana's Rosebud Restaurants, Ahern is bringing "The Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch" to the chain's eatery in the Loop. A signature program of former smooth jazz station WNUA-FM (95.5), it's being revived by Venture Technologies Group's smooth jazz WLFM-FM (87.7). Starting April 25, the show will air live from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays from Rosebud Prime, 1 S. Dearborn. (A big fan of the original show, Ahern was president and general manager of ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 from 1985 to 1997, and CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 from 2002 to 2008.) Rick O'Dell, program director and midday personality at WLFM, will host the program, as he did for 13 years at WNUA. Said O'Dell:

"We couldn't have come up with a better scenario for the return of 'The Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch.' The quality and tradition of the Rosebud Restaurants combined with the music of our show -- it'll be a unique Sunday morning experience, whether you're dining at Rosebud Prime or listening at home."

And please please PLEASE, seize the day, seize the spring, and take a picture (or film clip) of yourself doing a cartwheel. Email it to me at missionamykr@vocalo.org. I will be assembling all cartwheels into a final video for your viewing pleasure!